Should the Edmonton Oilers look to submit an offer sheet to Will Cuylle?

The prime target for offer sheets this offseason is likely to be Matthew Knies. And quite frankly, if the Edmonton Oilers had all of their draft capital, they should be in on that as well. But, they do not currently have their picks in the salary range where Knies is expected to sign for.

There may be another target, however. One who possesses a very similar playstyle to Knies, but may be within the Oilers’ price range. Will Cuylle of the New York Rangers.

Cuylle is currently in the process of negotiating a deal with his current team, which could realistically fall anywhere from $3.5M to as high as $6M in some projections. The Oilers would be limited in what they could offer, which could likely fall well below what some other teams could and would offer. It would have to be below an AAV of $4,680,076. And with how offer sheet AAV is calculated, as it only takes the first five years even if the contract is longer, that would also be a limiting factor as Edmonton would have to offer an even lower AAV for longer contracts.

For a player like Cuylle, who would be entering his third full NHL season with a career high of 20 goals and 45 points, a contract along the lines of four years at $4.6M could be enough to entice him to sign when it is a deal to play in Edmonton and likely with Leon Draisaitl.

What kind of player is Will Cuylle?

Cuylle might still be a relative unknown in many hockey circles. But he is a name that we should be paying more attention to. The 23-year old, who was the Rangers’ second-round draft pick in 2020, made his NHL debut in 2022–23. He played in four games with zero points.

His official rookie year is where he started to make an impact. He played in 81 games, scoring 13 goals and 21 points. But notably, he had 249 hits. Last season, he continued to show growth in all of these categories. Cuylle scored 20 goals, totalled 45 points, and laid 301 hits while adding nearly four minutes of ice time per game to his season average.

Cuylle is very clearly a strong, physically engaged player. He also has a dangerous shot to go along with the physicality. With his age and already developing skillset, Cuylle appears to come with a fairly high probability to improve further.

Although Cuylle isn’t an incredibly fast skater, he is by no means a slouch in that regard. He covers a lot of ground during a game, and he frequently uses short bursts of high speed at a rate higher than the average. He should be able to keep up with a team like the Oilers that creates a lot of offence off of the rush.

Would Will Cuylle be a fit with the Edmonton Oilers?

Strong, physical winger who shoots more than he creates plays, and does so with a dangerous shot. Sound familiar? Kind of reminds me of an Evander Kane type. Except Cuylle is significantly younger, healthier, has room to grow, and would be slightly cheaper.

Needless to say, Cuylle would fit in perfectly well in the Oilers’ roster. The young, physical, grinding, offensively talented winger is likely something that General Manager Stan Bowman was alluding to when he mentioned changes at forward were coming this offseason.

Cuylle would fit in nearly anywhere in the lineup, though with Zach Hyman usually occupying a place with Connor McDavid, a natural place for him would be on Leon Draisaitl’s wing. Possibly someone with more offensive potential than Vasily Podkolzin, who spent large portions of last season with Draisaitl.

Should the Oilers submit an offer sheet to Will Cuylle?

Edmonton is limited with what they can offer. Unless they find a way to reacquire their 2026 first-round draft pick from the San Jose Sharks, which makes it even less likely that Cuylle would sign the offer sheet and that the Rangers would not immediately match it, but they should at the very least try. Players do want to come to Edmonton right now, there is a chance it works out.

And if it did happen to bring Cuylle to the Oilers, Edmonton would be receiving a developing, younger winger with scoring capabilities, a physical style of play that should translate to the playoffs extremely well, and hopefully a better winger for Draisaitl’s line.

An offer sheet at a $4.6M AAV would be affordable for the team, given they are able to unload the contracts of Evander Kane and/or Viktor Arvidsson. Which, based on early indications, seems like they will be able to accomplish.

It seems highly unlikely that Cuylle even makes it to July 1 without a contract, unfortunately. The Rangers, now that they’ve created cap space and traded Chris Kreider, are working on a contract with their pending RFA. But, if he does make it to the market, the Oilers should be at the front of the line with an offer sheet.